Vul. Bohomoltsia, 04 – residential building

ID: 9

Description

A three-storied row townhouse was built in 1905-1906 under a project designed at Ivan Levynskyi's (Jan Lewiński) architectural
bureau for the Elster
and Topf company.
This townhouse is a part of a Secession-style ensemble of residential buildings surrounding a
green square in the center of the
street. It is an architectural monument of local
significance (protection number 4). Today
the building is residential.

History

The building’s plot was formed in 1904,
when Bohomoltsia (then Adama Asnyka) street was laid and the area, where an old
villa and gardens had been located (its old address was Pańska street 5 or
conscription number 508 4/4), was parcelled for housing development. The plot
was owned by Klementyna Witosławska, née Bochdan.

The plot of the house number 4 (as well as
those of numbers 8, 9, 11) was bought by the Elster and Topf company. Later it was marked with a new
conscription number 921 4/4. The project of a residential townhouse was
designed at Jan Lewiński’s bureau in 1905 (DALO 2/1/124: 3). In 1906 some
changes to the project were approved: a fourth floor was added to the back wing
for a photo studio premises. The construction was finished in October
of 1906 and immediately permission to move into the house was given (DALO
2/1/124: 11-).

In 1906-1914 the Helios photo studio was located in the building’s wing, which was owned first by
Irena Mieczkowska and later by Max Apisdorf. In 1906-1908 a branch of this studio
was located on Sykstuska (now Doroshenka) street 33 and in 1908-1914 on
Kopernika street 28. In 1906 photographer Oskar Wilczer, who lived in the
house, applied the Magistrate for permission to construct a shop window near
the building’s gate under a project designed by architect Artur Schleyen.
Permission was granted only after the second appeal to the Magistrate made by
Irena Mieczkowska (DALO 2/1/121, 146, 163).

Today this building is used only for dwelling purposes.

Architecture

The house is located in the row housing of
Bohomoltsia street. This is a residential townhouse constructed in the first
decade of the 20th century with the use of the then modern building materials
and constructions as well as with connection to electricity, water supply and
sewerage networks. In general, the building, despite its modernity, is designed
somewhat more traditionally than most buildings in the ensemble of Bohomoltsia
street; this can be seen both in its planning and façades. It contains rooms receiving
less natural light that face the courtyard. The composition of its front façade
is typical of the Historicism: strict symmetry, thin lateral façade projections
topped with attics. Its tectonics is emphasized by rustication; stylized
Neo-Renaissance elements are used (window frames, pediments, balcony consoles,
entablature, etc.). In the façades decoration, Secession-style details were
also used: majolica panels, mascarons, etc.

The building has three floors, basements
and an attic. It is built of brick and plastered, with brick vaults on metal
beams in the basement, reinforced concrete intermediate floors and balconies.
Forged metal elements and majolica tiles were used in the façades design. The
roof has a structure made of wooden rafters and posts and is covered with corrugated metal. Originally, it was probably covered with tiles.

The building is U-shaped in plan, with a
rectangular front part and an L-shaped wing. According to the original project,
there were two apartments on each floor of the front part: a two-room one and a
three-room one with kitchens and bathrooms inside. A back staircase led to
another, cheaper two-room apartment in the wing.

The main façade is symmetrical, its
symmetry accentuated by two lateral pilaster sides, a
balcony and a portal. It is characterized by a certain tectonics of the
composition expressed in the ground floor rustication, more massive second
floor balconies than the third floor ones, the triple division of the façade
and the ground floor level separation with a cornice, the stylization of window
framings, pediments, and mirrors; due to all these details the façade solution
approximates the Historicist architecture. However, the very character of the
details is clearly that of the Secession: majolica, stylized floral designs,
mascarons, wreaths, forged consoles and balcony railings.

The townhouse has been changed somewhat
since it was built: the attic facing the courtyard was reconstructed and
adapted for living; the apartments were replanned; the roof was replaced.
Decorative elements have mainly been preserved (the main façade and entryway
decoration), as well as the door and window woodwork. The authentic staircase
with a forged railing and ornamented floor tiles in the Secession style have
also survived.

Persons

Aniela Raciborska – real estate owner and a resident of the house (1910)Artur Schleyen – architect who designed a shop window for the photo atelierWacław Barabasz – merchant, a resident of the house (1913)Wiktor Samisch – merchant, a resident of the house (1913)Eduard Heller – nadporuchnik (oberleutnant),a resident of the house (1910)Ivan Levynskyi (Jan Lewiński)– architect who designed the buildingIzrael Elster – co-owner of the buildingIrena Mieczkowska – owner of a photo atelier located in the buildingKazimierz Zakrzewski – doctor, Associate professor of Jan Kazimierz University, co-owner of the buildingKarol Pieczenik – captain, resident of the house (1937)Klementyna Witosławska née Bochdan – owner of the real estate before the construction of Bohomoltsia streetLeon Topf – co-owner of the buildingLeopold Frostig – doctor, lawyer, a resident of the house (1937)Maurycy Fischer – pharmacist, a resident of the house (1913)Maurycy Fruchtmann – photographer, a resident of the house (1913)Maks Apisdorf – photographer, owner of Helios photo atelier located in the building, and a resident of the house (1910)Aleksander Antoni Wolski – littérateur who work at the editorial office of Dziennik Polski and Skorowidz adresowy, a resident of the house (1910)Oskar Wilczer – photographer who worked in the atelier located in the building, a resident of the house (1906)

Rudolf Korzeniowski – representative of a ceramic tiles enterprise, a resident of the house (1937)Salomon Elster – a co-owner of the buildingZofia Orestowa – a co-owner of the buildingJ. Korzeniowski – worker of ceramic tiles enterprise,a resident of the house (1932)

Julian Kwaśniewski – engineer, a resident of the house (1932)Jadwiga Zakrzewska – a co-owner of the building